The present invention relates in general to voice messaging in a telecommunications system, and, more specifically, to voicemail recall features wherein stored messages can be deleted or reprioritized.
Conventional voice mail systems create a mailbox for a person associated with a called telephone number (i.e., the subscriber). When incoming calls are unanswered within a certain number of rings, they are directed to a voice mail server allowing the caller to create a recorded message to be later retrieved by the subscriber. The subscriber accesses their mailbox in order to manage the mailbox (e.g., record a personal greeting), to review message details (e.g., day and time of message), to listen to messages, and to delete messages. The subscriber is typically required to enter a valid pin code or password in order to gain access to the mailbox.
It has been recognized that as time passes, any unretrieved messages may become superfluous or no longer accurate. When new information becomes available, the party who left a prior message may decide to make the new information available to the mailbox subscriber by calling and leaving an additional message. Since two messages would then be in the mailbox, and since the older, inaccurate message would typically be played back first when the subscriber retrieves messages, inefficiency and confusion result.
By way of example, a person who has misplaced their car keys and believes that they will be late for work or an appointment places a phone call to someone who will be expecting their arrival. The phone goes unanswered and the caller is connected with voicemail to leave a message. Shortly thereafter, the person finds their car keys and realizes that they still have time to arrive on time. Leaving a second message retracting the first one causes potential embarrassment for the person and wastes time for the recipient. By permitting the person to recall (i.e., delete) the first message, these problems can be avoided.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,966,351, issued to Carleton et al, discloses a voice mail system wherein a sender of a message who is an authorized user of the voice mail system can access stored messages in a recipient's mailbox that were originally recorded by the sender. The sender is allowed to re-prioritize or delete messages in the recipient's mailbox that have not yet been retrieved provided the sender is authenticated by providing correct login information. Both the sender and recipient of a message are required to be subscribers of the same voicemail system.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,614,887, issued to Satapathy et al, allows calling parties to create sub-mailboxes within the subscriber's mailbox. A sub-mailbox is addressed according to the calling party's phone number. Each sub-mailbox is protected by an associated PIN code which is set-up during first use of the sub-mailbox. A caller is required to enter the PIN code prior to deleting or re-ordering messages previously left in the sub-mailbox. While the requirement for the sender and recipient to subscribe to the same voicemail system is avoided, a relatively greater number of command prompts and responses are involved. Added command prompts and responses must be navigated even when the caller is the subscriber or when there are no stored messages to be deleted. It would be desirable to reduce the command interactions needed to permit a caller to alter a previously recorded message.
Use of a PIN code for securing a sub-mailbox entails administrative overhead. For example, when a user forgets their PIN code then administrative act must be taken to recover the PIN code or assign a new one. Entry of the PIN code also makes the voicemail system more cumbersome and slower to use. Thus, it would be desirable to maintain security of stored messages without requiring entry of a PIN code or other login information.